Rejectomancy

5 day form from the good folks at The Journal of Unlikely Entomology.

2nd round sub at Penumbra got cut today at 44-days. Nice R letter that said they had hundreds of submissions and over 50 stories in 2nd round.

Sorry to hear that Eliza - I liked that story. Sounds like that theme had one of their biggest responses so far. Waiting on mine, which was subbed a fair time after yours, so it might still be a while before they reread it.

Niccolo - shame about the JoUE R. As you say, they are good folk there. I subbed a story to them a long time ago, to which they very kindly responded with a personal R, which I believe was very delicately phrased. It was one of those stories that I wince at the memory of having submitted anywhere! I retired it not long after.

92-day form R from Buzzy Mag a couple of days after a query. Ick.

85 days from Vine Leaves. Didn't even get a form letter, just an auto-notice from Submittable saying, 'status has been changed.' I guess that's like a form letter for form letters.

139-day form rejection from TriQuarterly.

dachshund said:

... Didn't even get a form letter, just an auto-notice from Submittable saying, 'status has been changed.' I guess that's like a form letter for form letters.

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Pretty cruddy! Hope you don't get a form R later as well if they send them in a batch - so then you'd get two R's for the same story, which would be even sadder.

Sorry about the long R that may have nearly made the cut, everyone.

And for me: 46 day R from Fictionvale.

294-day form rejection from Black Warrior Review. This one hurts. After such a long wait and getting my hopes up because I thought this story had a chance... Nothing. I'm not sure I can do this anymore. I think I need a break at least.

Sorry about all the rejections I got a 44 day one from Allegory and that zeroed me out. I'm going to start fresh with all new stories. I'm trying to finish one for an anthology deadline on July 15... I hope it doesn't turn into a novella.

R from Natur3's Futures. They sent me an attachement with their guidelines. They didn't mention it in the R, but do they this with every R or did I break them?

Project Deadlight said:

R from Natur3's Futures. They sent me an attachement with their guidelines. They didn't mention it in the R, but do they this with every R or did I break them?

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I don't think I've ever gotten that before from them. Analog always includes it with lower-tier rejections. Either way, sorry to hear. How many days out?

Project Deadlight said:

R from Natur3's Futures. They sent me an attachement with their guidelines. They didn't mention it in the R, but do they this with every R or did I break them?

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Hmm, I haven't gotten that before either, but I've only subbed there a couple of times. Maybe a new editor - did it come from C.Sullivan?

I'd be interested to know what they say their word-limit is, though. On one web page it says 850-words and on another page it says 950. I wrote my last one to exactly 850 to be safe!

17-day R from Ellery Queen's, 3-day from Clarkesworld, 3-day from Nightmare.

73-day form rejection from Bourbon Penn and 20-day form rejection from Flash Fiction Online.

And another one. 95-day form from The Baltimore Review.

Eliza C said:

Hmm, I haven't gotten that before either, but I've only subbed there a couple of times. Maybe a new editor - did it come from C.Sullivan?

I'd be interested to know what they say their word-limit is, though. On one web page it says 850-words and on another page it says 950. I wrote my last one to exactly 850 to be safe!

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The editor's name is Colin Sullivan. They require the stories to fall between 850 and 950 words, because the story must be laid out on a single page.

Alex - 45 days. I think I may have read some old guidelines which is why they attached the new ones.TBH it took me a while to figure out how to submit in the first place so not surprised I got confused. Nearly subbed to their academic dept.

Rejection bites!

Yes, I know the familiar feeling of opening up yet another e-mail with another rejection. I know there is a mass market for my novel. Hell, I dive deep into the world of MMO. What's not to like about the biggest social networking sensation on the internet? It's back to the old drawing board of tweaking my synopsis and query letter while I continue to start another draft of revisions on my novel.

24 day final round R from Penumbra.

fihr said:

24 day final round R from Penumbra.

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Oh, bummer! I really thought that one was going to make it. Well, off to the next market - it should fit plenty.

There's the Dark Bits form that I was expecting. 68 days.

Eliza C said:

Oh, bummer! I really thought that one was going to make it. Well, off to the next market - it should fit plenty.

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Thanks, Eliza - I was hopeful too, but you never know how your story will sit with other submissions. I've sent it off to another market already. I hope you are right and that it will fit elsewhere! I really enjoyed writing that one.

92-day R from Dark Bits here.

49 days to a form R from A Cappella Zoo. I thought this story was a good fit for them. Meh